20 May 2005

The Good Friday Agreement has already been reviewed and must not be re-negotiated, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

Mr Ahern rejected comments yesterday by the DUP that the 1998 accord was dead and a new beginning was needed.

He said the agreement was reviewed for most of 2004 with political parties in the North and was accepted by the DUP and other political parties there before the aborted power-sharing deal last December.

"We've had the review and the review is finished," Mr Ahern said after attending the seventh British-Irish Council summit on the Isle of Man today.

He added: "We respect the good relationships we have built up with Unionism, but the basis for moving forward is with the Good Friday Agreement."

He said altering the agreement now was "not a possibility".

DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley said after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday that a new beginning was needed because the 1998 accord was dead.